Developing a Personal Health and Wellness Plan

Personal Health Wellness Plan

During the past semester, I have learned about me, my habits and my health. I intend to make changes in my routine to incorporate exercise and other healthy habits. I have already made changes to my life in recent years. However; after taking the Tactics to Coping with Stress Inventory (Weitan et al., 2009) Appendix A, I decided to change some of my existing coping strategies into more productive ones. I realized, after taking the Beliefs Inventory (Davis et al., 2008) Appendix B, that I had room for improvement in my personal beliefs and I am a perfectionist.

Exercise

Presently, I exercise but I am not consistent. I attended water aerobics for about 3 months last year. Unfortunately, I found the class in July

and attended August, September and October. The weather in November was too cold for me to in the pool. I also attended an aerobics class this past March. I do stretch and do some exercises, 15 o 30 minutes every other day, at home but I do not have a routine and feel that that is my biggest problem. I need to be more consistent with my exercising. I realize it is important to exercise and I can feel the difference in my body. I tend to procrastinate and realize, I’ll “probably need several months of conscious effort” before I can develop different habits (Davis et al., 2008, p. 226).
Defeating Irrational Beliefs
After scoring the Beliefs Inventory (Davis et al., 2008) Appendix B, I realized I have several irrational beliefs.

Granted, I have changed had I scored this inventory 5 or 10 years ago my results would have been worse. Despite my changes I am still a perfectionist, it still bothers me when things don’t go my way but not as much as it did before. I have made changes in my views and perceptions and improved but I still need improvement.

In the past, I was always concerned about what others thought, I had a deep need for approval and acceptance. In the past 10 years, I have come to terms with me, accept myself and no longer try to please others. Despite, this I still feel the need for loved and approval from others and scored a 3 in this area. I am still concerned about sticking out in crowds and try to blend in. I will speak my mind and not badger myself for what I say. I am no longer as highly critical of myself as I used to be. In the past 18 months I have taken about 6 psychology courses which have all helped me

change.
Despite my psychological learning, I scored a perfect 10 in my irrational belief of being perfect.

However, I must state that in the past few months I have changed in this aspect. I can accept failing at things. I have had several experiences in the past 2 months and my reactions have not been so critical. I try to avoid things I cannot do well, I dropped the Psychology of Learning class this semester. I might have been able to pass the class; however, it but it would have been a C at most and I was stressing horribly over this. I am 55 years old and have been taking classes for the past 3 semesters. I have found it difficult to be an A student like I used to be, but have accepted that my learning is slower now and don’t stress over this anymore. I still get upset when I make mistakes but not as drastically and I calm down within a few seconds. I stalk myself and when I am reacting to situations; I stop and analyze and diffuse my thought process.

I still believe that some people do not get what they deserve. But my psychology courses have helped me to understand that people have different ways of thinking which leads them to be the way they are. I also understand the psychological development process and can justify some of the actions of people that do wrong. I have started to be less judgmental. I intend to continue studying and taking more psychology classes to better understand myself; and thereby, understand and be more accepting of

others.
Stress Reduction
I stress out and get anxious over the uncertainties in my life. In the past, I have used meditation to alleviate my stress and anxiety. I resort to alternative medicine often. I practice transcendental meditation as well as mindfulness meditation (Brannon & Feist, 2010). It is my intent to continue practicing meditation as it has been beneficial in relieving my stress and anxiety. I find it easier to mediate now and it calms me down quite a bit.
This class, as well as the other psychology courses, have been very beneficial to me. They have reiterated my prior knowledge and provided insight into my thoughts and feelings. I do plan to exercise; I am exercising more than I did in the past – that alone is an improvement. I plan to continue meditating and be less critical of myself. I am happy I understand that I am responsible for my happiness and that any situations in my life don’t have to make me unhappy. I can have a positive attitude and be happy despite the challenges I might be facing.